South Africa: Jacob Zuma Agrees In Principle To Step Down

South Africa&&num;8217&semi;s African National Congress&comma; ANC&comma; party confirmed Tuesday it had decided to &&num;8220&semi;recall&&num;8221&semi; scandal-tainted President Jacob Zuma from office but said there was no deadline for him to resign&comma; pitching the country into further uncertainty&period;

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ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule told reporters that Zuma had &&num;8220&semi;agreed in principle to resign and had proposed time frames extending from three to six months&&num;8221&semi;&period;

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But Magashule said there was no date for Zuma to stand down&comma; and added that there would be &&num;8220&semi;continuing interaction&&num;8221&semi; between party officials and Zuma&period;

&&num;8220&semi;The decision by the NEC to recall its deployee was taken only after exhaustive discussion on the impact such a recall would have on the country&comma;&&num;8221&semi; he said&period;

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The ANC party can &&num;8220&semi;recall&&num;8221&semi; the head of state&comma; but the process is a party-level instruction and he is under no constitutional obligation to obey&period;

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The ANC said Zuma would respond to the recall decision on Wednesday&period;

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The power struggle over Zuma&&num;8217&semi;s departure has put the president at loggerheads with Cyril Ramaphosa&comma; his expected successor&comma; who is the new head of the African National Congress&period;

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Who&&num;8217&semi;s in charge&quest;

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The ANC&&num;8217&semi;s leadership committee met for 13 hours at a hotel outside Pretoria&comma; and decided in the early hours of Tuesday to &&num;8220&semi;recall&&num;8221&semi; Zuma from his post&period;

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A committee member confirmed to AFP that the president had asked for three more months in office&comma; and described the request as &&num;8220&semi;hogwash&&num;8221&semi;&period;

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&&num;8220&semi;We just felt he meant three months of looting&comma;&&num;8221&semi; the source said&comma; speaking on condition of anonymity&period;

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The political deadlock has plunged South Africa &&num;8212&semi; Africa&&num;8217&semi;s most developed economy &&num;8212&semi; into confusion over who is running the country&comma; with a series of public events cancelled last week including the annual State of the Nation address to parliament&period;

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&&num;8220&semi;We know you want this matter to be finalised&comma;&&num;8221&semi; Ramaphosa&comma; 65&comma; told a party rally in Cape Town on Sunday&period;

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&&num;8220&semi;We know you want closure&&num;8230&semi; Because our people want this matter to be finalised&comma; the NEC will be doing precisely that&period;&&num;8221&semi;

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South African opposition parties have called for early elections as the ANC&&num;8217&semi;s leadership battle grinds on&period;

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An opposition request for a no-confidence vote against Zuma&comma; 75&comma; this week was still being considered by the parliamentary speaker&period;

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Zuma&&num;8217&semi;s presidency has been marred by corruption scandals&comma; slow economic growth and record unemployment that have fuelled public anger&period;

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He was scheduled to stand down next year after serving the maximum two terms after coming to power in 2009&period;

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Mandela&&num;8217&semi;s party

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In 2008&comma; Zuma&&num;8217&semi;s supporters pushed out then-president Thabo Mbeki via a &&num;8220&semi;recall&&num;8221&semi; over allegations of abuse of power&period;

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In local polls in 2016&comma; the ANC recorded its worst electoral result since coming to power with Nelson Mandela at the helm in 1994 when white-minority rule fell&period;

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The party faces a tricky general election next year&period;

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Ramaphosa is a former trade unionist and Mandela ally who led talks to end apartheid in the early 1990s and then became a multi-millionaire businessman before returning to politics&period;

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Zuma&&num;8217&semi;s hold over the ANC was shaken in December when his chosen successor &&num;8212&semi; his former wife Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma &&num;8212&semi; narrowly lost to Ramaphosa in a vote to be the new party leader&period;

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The ANC has insisted there will be no delay to the budget speech&comma; which is due on February 21&period;